CHRIS READ, DAVID MOSEBY, BEN GREEN, BRADLEY CAUSEY, DAN GOODEY, DAN PYLE, DAN WOLF, MATT COOKE, ALAN SWIFT, TIM WARD

WILLIAM THOMPSON, ALFIE HUXTABLE, CHARLES FITZROY, TOBY CODD, BEN STEER, FREDDIE FILOR, CHARLIE BARRIBALL, JAMIE TELFORD, JAKE REDDICK

The first match of our 12^th tour to South Africa was the established two day fixture against Nelspruit at Skukuza CC . Having batted Nelspruit out of contention in the first innings we faced the challenge of having to take 10 wickets in order to win the game, something not required in limited overs games. This was achieved, but almost sixty  overs were required before the final wicket was taken.

Unfortunately some internal politics meant that Mpumalanga were unable to field a representative side as scheduled for our second game. A local college, Penryn (not I might add on holiday from Cornwall) stepped in at the last minute for which we were very grateful. No fault of theirs but the opposition was a little below par and we were able to win very comfortably by the large margin of 199 runs.

As ever in Kruger the hospitality was outstanding and the players enjoyed a magnificent insight into this outstanding wildlife area - something they will probably never forget.

The first game in Cape Town, a day/night affair against a Township Select XI, illustrated the enormous improvements in the quality of cricket played by these young black athletes. They had the confidence to bat having won the toss (something they would have been reluctant to do in the past) and posted a useful 172.

We lost regular wickets in reply and at one stage looked very likely to lose the game until a remarkable innings of 17 in 10 balls by Ben Green enable us to win by one wicket with just two balls remaining.

We then travelled to Paarl situated in one of the major wine production regions for a 50 over game at the suburb Boland Park stadium, venue for international and first-class fixtures.  Maybe it was the heat, 38 degrees and not the slightest breeze, but we produced our most disappointing performance of the tour being dismissed for just 129 by Boland U15s on a good pitch before seeing our opponents make light work of scoring 130 for 2 in just 27 overs.

The fifth game was our usual two-day fixture against Western Province U14s at Vineyard Oval with Table Mountain providing a dramatic backdrop to proceedings. Having lost the toss and being asked to field we bowled accurately and fielded keenly in reducing WP to 76 for four off 30 overs. We were then given a reminder of the quality of opposition as 149 runs were added for the fifth wicket before WP eventually declared at 276 for 8.

Our response was disappointing and a first innings total of only 145 left Western Province very much in the ascendancy. They chose to bat rather than enforce the follow on before setting a target of 255 to win.

This was always going to be a daunting task, particularly when we were reduced to 102 for 5. However some enterprising batting by Dan Wolf and Will Thompson,

who put on 54 for the sixth wicket, enabled us to achieve a respectable 216.

Our final game against Western Province U15 provided the stiffest test of the tour, pleasing therefore that we responded by producing some of our best cricket.

Controlled bowling backed up by enthusiastic fielding restricted WP to 202 for 8 (Ben Steer 5 for 35) in their allotted overs on a good batting surface.

What appeared to be a very gettable total became somewhat more challenging when we were reduced to 69 for 6 by some excellent bowling and fielding, at which point there was the danger of subsiding to a heavy defeat. However some enterprising batting by Ben Green (50) and Dan Wolf (54 not out including four 4s and three 6s) threatened the WP total. As it turned out the loss of early wickets proved decisive as we were bowled out 42 runs short of the required target.

The itinerary was designed to provide varying levels of competition from matches where we might be expected to do well to those where success would be have to be hard-won, which is pretty well what happened.

17^TH & 18^TH FEB AT SKUKUZA CC (2 DAY FORMAT)

DEVON 217-7 DEC (B STEER 66, D PYLE 50  & 104 (B GREEN 23)

NELSPRUIT 96 (B STEER 3-11) & 123 (B STEER 5-16)

DEVON WON BY 102 RUNS

20^TH FEB AT  SKUKUZA CC

DEVON 321-5 (D PYLE 115,BEN GREEN 112*)

PENRYN COLLEGE  122 (D GOODEY 4-16, D WOLF 3-18)

DEVON WON BY  199 RUNS

20^TH FEBRUARY AT BERGVLIET HIGH

WP DEVELOPMENT XI  172

DEVON 174-9 (A  HANNAM 24)

DEVON WON BY 1 WICKET

24^TH FEB AT BOLAND PARK (PAARL)

DEVON 129 (C BARRIBALL 32, D WOLF 32)

BOLAND 130-2

BOLAND WON BY 8 WICKETS)

26^TH FEB AT VINEYARD OVAL (2 DAY FORMAT)

WESTERN PROVINCE U14S  276 – 8 DEC & 133-3

DEVON 145 (B STEER 39) & 216 (B GREEN 33, C BARRIBALL 30)

W PROVINCE WON BY  48 RUNS

1^ST MARCH AT NORTHERNS GOODWOOD CC

WESTERN PROVINCE U15 202-8 (B STEER 5-35)

DEVON 180 (D WOLF 54* B GREEN 52)

W PROVINCE WON BY 42 RUNS.

STATISTICS